Montreal – Don Lever would like to be a head coach in the National Hockey League.

But the newest addition to the Canadiens’ coaching staff said this isn’t the time to be thinking about the future beyond the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

“Obviously, that would be my dream, to be a head coach in the NHL someday,” Lever said after he helped run an optional on-ice session yesterday at the Canadiens’ training facility in Brossard. “Right now, my situation is to come up here and be a support to (general manager/head coach Bob Gainey). And Dougie (Jarvis) and Kirk (Muller). I’m trying to fit in and understand the system.

Lever, who has more than 20 years coaching experience as an NHL assistant and AHL head coach, has been the head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs for the past three seasons. He joined the Canadiens staff on Monday after Gainey fired Guy Carbonneau and added the coaching duties to his portfolio.

“Right now, in this situation, it’s the rapport with the kids I had in Hamilton,” Lever said when asked about his role with the team. “I think they’re very comfortable with me. They need a lot of support, a lot of positive thinking and that’s what I’m trying to bring.”

But Lever’s arrival and his appearance behind the bench for the third period of the Canadiens’ come-from-behind win over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night, have led to speculation that Lever might be a candidate to succeed Gainey at season’s end.

Gainey said yesterday that it was too early to speculate about Lever’s future role with the team and added an ominous note to his daily media briefing by suggesting that he couldn’t be certain of his future.

He noted that he had people up above him whose job it would be to evaluate the performance of the hockey department at the end of the season and that the evaluation might be a moot point if the team doesn’t meet its immediate goal of making the playoffs.

If Lever does have a role beyond pumping up the youngsters, there is one major hurdle he must overcome – he doesn’t speak French.

The speculation about who will eventually coach the team has touched off a debate over the relative importance of experience and linguistic. When Gainey asked about the importance of hiring a francophone coach, he quickly pointed out that the ideal was to have a bilingual coach.

“It’s a real issue,” Gainey said. “It’s our community. Bilingualism here is an advantage and it would be preferable if everybody here, including me, spoke French better or the second language whatever it might be.

“It would be a preference if we could find somebody to work in any of the positions that are important that allow us to speak to our fans and the public in a language they are comfortable with.”

The players on the ice yesterday included left winger Guillaume Latendresse, who has been out with a shoulder injury since Feb. 1. He said his shoulder felt good and that he has experienced contact in practice. He’s still waiting to be cleared by the doctors, but he could be in the lineup as early as next week.

Gainey said he is still pondering lineup changes for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders, but he confirmed that Carey Price will make his fifth consecutive start in goal. Price has won his last two starts and appears to have regained his early-season form. He has stopped 85 of 90 shots in his last three games – a save percentage of .944.

phickey@thegazette.canwest.com

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